Island



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' W. OORLISS.

SAFE. 'No. 478,989. Patented July 19, 1892.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shee-t 2..

W. GORLISS. SAFE.

No. 478,989. Patented July 19, 1892.

magi? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM CORLISS, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

SAFE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 478,989, dated July 19,1892 Application filed July 28, 1891. Renewed May 27, 1892. Serial No.484,531. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM CORLISS, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of Providence, in the State of RhodeIsland, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inBurglar-Proof Safes, of which the following is a specification.

I have discovered that a superior resistance to the attacks of burglarsmay be obtained by making the safe of great thickness, with the outerportion of chilled cast-iron and the inner portion of soft irontraversed by bars of hardened steel. I attain this condition and havetheparts each complete in itself, unaffected by its relation to theother, by constructing each separately and applying them together cold.To obtain access to the interior of such a safe, a burglar must cutalarge hole through the exterior portion, because the inner portioncannot be drilled until the temper of the steel has been drawn by heat.In the present state of the art there is no means of applying sufficientheat, except by a blowpipe, and a small hole will not admit of heatingin the bottom of the hole by a blowpipe.

The improvement may be applied to safes of various sizes made to serveeither as parts of a fixed Vault or as portable safes. I will describeit as being carried out in a portable safe.

I have set forth in the specification of United States Letters Patent,dated April 30, 1872, No. 126,131, a construction of safe in which theexterior is approximately spherical and access to the interior isreached through a circular door. A system of further doors with locks,shelves with partitions, &c., is employed in the interior with libertyto revolve on a vertical shaft supported in bearings in the top andbottom of the safe, and I have in United States Letters Patent to me,dated January 30, 1883-, No. 271,313, set forth afurther provision bywhich I provide a main interior revolving frame with the door revolvingon an axis carried in such frame near one edge thereof. This affordssome advantages, particularly for safes of large size. The presentinvention applies to both styles of safe or to any other of agenerally-globular form. The interior portion of the shell is made inpieces and is put in as a separate lining. One portion of the lining isa ring lying within the point between the two parts of the outer shelland is screw-threaded on its exterior.-

It engages strongly with each of the parts and holds them together. Theouter portion gives strength and offers what I believe to be insurmountable difficulties to the production by a burglar with themoderate resources at his command of the large hole necessary to admitof softening the steel bars in the interior portion. The interiorportion or lining offers difficulties to the penetration by a drill orother tool which I believe to be insurmountable until the steel has beensoftened.

I esteem the .safe absolutely invulnerable against any tools and powerswhich burglars can employ.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification andrepresent what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

Figu re 1 is a central vertical section, partlyin elevation, showing theinvention applied to a simple construction of safe; and Fig. 2 is asection of a portion on the line a: w in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a Viewcorresponding to Fig. 1, but showing the invention applied to a moreelaborate form of safe. Fig. 4is a horizontal section of a portion on alarger scale.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures where they appear.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, A is the main shell of the safe, made in tworigid pieces abutting squarely together, with a round bar of hardenedsteel let into the joint, half in one part and half in the other, tomake this part of the safe impenetrable. The inner face of each part isscrew-threaded near the edge for a purpose which will presently appear.Bars m of tough wroughtiron are cast in the shell A in the manner setforth in the patent to me dated July 25, 1882, No. 261,533. I use theproper iron and form the casting Ain chills, so thatthe entire exteriorportion of castingAhas great hardness, which cannot be materiallyaffected by heat. The chilled iron incloses two series or layers ofsoft-iron bars m, those in one layer lying nearly or quite at rightangles to the bars in the other layer. I mount within these parts alining A made of soft cast iron, constructed in separate sections, eachhaving holes cored or otherwise pro- ICO duced in a direction nearlyparallel to the exterior of the safe, in which holes are inclosed bars Pof steel hardened to the highest possible degree. I have for convenienceapplied the term bugs to the hard-steel bars thus conditioned. Thesectional lining is made with a concave disk at the back and theremainder in vertical rings formed independently each of the other andindependently of the exterior of the shell. Each piece is finished withjoint adapted to match the adjacent rings, and with an exterior faceadapted to match against the inner face of the outer shell A. The ringsare applied together and brace each other like the voussoirs of amasonry dome. This avoids the necessity for bolts or the like forsecuring this burglar-proof lining in place. I have in my experimentscored the holes in these pieces each in a cylindrical form. andhaveintroduced the steel in the form of cylindrical bars of nearly the samediameter, driving them forcibly into place. There are two layers ofthese hard bugs, those in the inner layer lying each just within thespace between two of the bugs of the outer layer. Thelargest ring A isscrew-threaded on its exterior. It is screwed firmly into the main bodyA and holds the entire lining. in the main body fast. Then the outerfront part A is brought into engagement with the projecting edge ofthreaded lining and is by proper and efficient means revolved unt1l1t isscrewed home. The parts are so fitted that when the outer parts A and Acome tightly together the outer edge of the lining-ring just meetsfairly and firmly against the proper bearing in the interior of thefront ring A. The meeting joint of these parts, as well as the meetingjoint of the parts A and A,is defended by hardened rings lD, let intothe metal, half in each.

In all the other features this safe shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may be as setforth in the patent to me dated July 25, 1882, No. 261,533.

Figs. 3 and 4 represent the main part of the invention applied to theform of safe set forth in the patent to me dated January 30, 1883, No.271,313, and which for brevity I term a planet safe. The door revolvesin a frame carried in a larger frame revolved in the interior of thesafe. This construction is adapted for larger safes than that firstshown. The main part of the outer shell of chilled iron toughened bybasket-work of wrought iron is in one piece. The ring 0 around the dooris of soft iron studded with hard-steel bars. It is made in three ormore sections applied from the interior and strongly held in place bycollars or rings on its exterior engaging in grooves in the adjacentsurface of the shell A. There are two large circular openings, one inthe top and one in the bottom, closed by strongly screw-threaded partsB, which I designate the heads of the safe. The main portion of eachhead is made of a sufficient thickness of cast-iron, the exteriorchilled and traversed by bars of soft iron, the interior soft and havingtwo layers of holes, in which hardened steel bars are driven. There areshort transverse bars J of hardened steel set at two opposite positionsin the periphery of each head to still further defend against thepossibility of drilling. These thick bars with the chilled cast-iron andtough soft bars in their interiors correspond in appearance and in theirgeneral relations to the main body with heads, set forth in my previouspatent of January 30, 1883, above referred to.

Modifications may be made without departing'from the principle orsacrificing the advantages of the invention. I have represented most ofthe lining-rings as having their inner faces presenting a straightoutline in cross-section, and the holes and the hardened-steel bars Pare shown as straight; but these points may be varied. I can, ifpreferred, make the inner faces of all the rings A concave-like thesmallest one, and some or all the holes and bars P may becorrespondingly curved; or I can make the smallest one with a straightinner face and make the holes and bars P in that, the smallestliningpiece straight, making all the rest curved.

The door may be defended by a separatelyformed lining of soft ironhaving bars of hardened steel in holes cast therein; but the means forsecuring such lining to the door are different. I propose in some casesto use Mushet steel or other self-hardening metal for the bars P.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a burglar-proof safe, a shell theexterior face of which is of hard metal and the interior portion ofwhich is made separately, as a lining, and is traversed by bars of hardmetal, all combined and arranged substantially as herein specified.

2. In a burglar-proof safe, an exterior shell of hard metal traversed bybars of soft iron and a separately-formed lining of soft iron traversedby bars of hard steel applied together, substantially as hereinspecified.

3. In a safe, a lining of separately-formed pieces matched together likethe voussoirs of domes, so as to be self-supporting, as hereinspecified.

4. In a burglar-proof safe, an exterior shell formed of separate piecesscrew-threaded interiorly near the lines of junction, in combinationwith an exteriorly-screW-thrcaded connecting-ring, substantially as setforth.

5. In a burglar-proof safe, an exterior shell formed of separate piecesscrew-threaded interiorly near the lines of junction, in combinationwith a lining formed of detached pieces matched together, and anexteriorlyscrewthreaded connecting-ring forming a part of the lining andabutting against the outermost of the other lining-pieces, substantiallyas set forth.

6. The burglar-proof safe described, having an exterior shell A A inseparate pieces screw-threaded in their interior near the lines ofjunction, and lining A, extending across the joint on the interior,separately formed of set forth I afiix my signature in presence of softiron correspondingly screw-threaded, two witnesses. with hard-steel barsP inclosed therein, adapted to serve the double function of a 5burglar-proof lining and a connection for the Witnesses:

parts of the outer shell, as herein specified. CHARLES E. GOULD,

Intestimonythatlclaimtheinventionabove ISAAC H. SOUTHWICK, J r.

WILLIAM ooRLIs s.

